Dad’s horror blue ring octopus find in his pocket

Summer brings blue ringed octopus to our shores

A Bicton family holidaying in Dunsborough narrowly avoided tragedy on Christmas Eve after taking home two deadly blue-ringed octopuses, one of the most venomous creatures in the ocean.

Sophie Pix, 11, unknowingly picked up the two octopuses while duck-diving for shells with her seven-year-old brother Will at a beach in Quindalup near the family’s holiday home.

When she handed the shells to her father, Aaron, he put them in his pocket to take them home for cleaning.

“Sophie had picked up this shell and was swimming with it and in so many ways this could have turned out to be disastrous,” 42-year-old Mr Pix said.

“This shell was cone-shaped and pretty elaborate and she asked me if she could please keep it because it was so pretty.

“When I pulled the shells out at home to clean them, there was this blue-ringed octopus in my hand.

Camera IconWill and Sophie Pix with their father Aaron. Pictures:Picture: Pictures: Aaron Pix

“I freaked out and then I found another one in my pocket with its tentacles on my leg. It must have been on my leg for 15 or 20 minutes.

“We googled it and read that the bite is non-painful, so you may not even know you’ve been bitten, and it can be fatal within minutes.”

There have been a number of blue-ringed octopus attacks in WA this summer.

Its bite is highly poisonous to humans and an ambulance should be called immediately. The Pix family called an ambulance and Mr Pix spent about three hours in Busselton Hospital under observation and feeling a bit unwell.

He said hospital staff believed his leg coming into contact with the deadly mollusc’s tentacles had provoked a mild reaction.

Mr Pix said he feels lucky to be alive since he discovered victims can be unaware they have been bitten until paralysis sets in and that death can happen within minutes if untreated. “It is pretty scary to think I could have been bitten and died in front of my kids on Christmas Eve,” he said.

“What are the chances of finding two in your pocket? It makes you think there must be more of them out there and it’s the sheer lack of awareness that worries me now.”

Blue-ringed octopuses live in reef flats and tidal pools, where they may inhabit dead shells.

They secrete themselves in rocks and other debris and in crevices.

If bitten, numbness will be experienced, and it may become difficult to speak or see.

WHAT TO DO IF SOMEONE IS BITTEN BY A BLUE-RING

Perform DRSABCD

Keep the patient calm and still

Apply a crepe bandage over the bite site

Firmly apply a heavy crepe pressure bandage, from the fingers/toes, up as far as possible